Those who lamented the loss of the Photo Spheres feature on Pixel phones are in luck Originally a staple of Google phones, this feature was introduced in 2012 and lasted until the launch of the Pixel 8, but quickly disappeared Now, Google has brought the feature back with the latest Pixel Camera update

Photo Spheres is essentially an evolution of Panorama, allowing users to create 360-degree images of just about anything It does not require any special hardware, but it does require a steady hand as it moves around the object

The change was discovered by Reddit user PourJarsInReservoirs following an update to version 9211360477888819 of Pixel Camera My Pixel 6 Pro installed the same update earlier this week and Photo Spheres is indeed alive in the camera app again

Scroll right through the camera options, right next to Panorama mode, which Pixel 7 users should be able to find in the "Modes" section of the Pixel camera app, between Panorama and Lens

The downside is that Google seems to have reverted Photo Sphere only to models that previously supported it; both the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro were released without Photo Sphere, so Google did not want to include Photo Sphere in this update Photo Sphere in this update

However, this is good news for those who have Pixel 6 or Pixel 7 series phones and have been mourning this loss since last October

It is still unclear why Google discontinued the feature in the first place, but it is nice to see it back, probably due to fan demand The only question is how long the revived Photo Spheres will be around, and whether they will be included in either the Pixel 8 or future Pixel phones like the Pixel 8a or Pixel Fold 2